On the Team or Off

There should be no such thing as a quasi-team member. A person is either on the team or not. They may go through a training period to achieve the status of team member or it may be that simply emerging from the hiring process will be sufficient but people who make the team deserve respect. In turn, they are obligated to perform.

The idea that a team can have second-class citizens is a way of ducking responsibility. Rather than confronting the problem with an individual (or with the team itself), leadership chooses to pretend that the problem doesn't exist or that it can be worked around. What could be resolved fairly quickly is prolonged and overall effectiveness is harmed. People also begin to notice a deficit in honesty and courage.

And that type of deficit is never good.